Toll roads, fines, passports: prices soar with new financial year

The cost of many of the state’s public services have spiked as the new financial year begins, with Victorians bracing to feel the pinch.

A raft of public service fees have swelled with the arrival of the new financial year, leaving Victorians further out of pocket for expenses like toll roads and penalty units.

Across many industries, prices have spiked for mostly unavoidable costs including registering births, deaths and marriages, renewing a passport, and Citylink tolls.

Fees and penalties

As of today, the value of a fee unit is now $16.33 and the value of a penalty unit is $197.59 – an increase from the previous financial year, where a fee unit was $15.90 and a penalty unit was $192.31.

Penalty units and fee units have increased in cost. Picture: David Crosling

Road tolls

CityLink toll prices have inflated too, with the cost of each individual toll rising by anything from ten cents to $2.

Among the CityLink changes is the price of a 24-hour car pass, now costing $22.31 compared to $21.86 last year.

EastLink prices have fractionally risen, with the toll cap for a normal car trip up from $7.29 to $7.58.

Births, deaths and marriages

The prices of registering details of births, deaths and marriages have also been raised across the board.

Included in this spike is the administrative fee for a registry office wedding ceremony, increased from $175 to $185 in the new financial year.

Passports

Australia-wide, the price of securing a passport has now soared to become the most expensive in the world, putting travellers back a staggering $398.

This will be a 15 per cent increase from last year when it cost $346.

The May budget also revealed jetsetters will now have the option of fast-tracking their passport processing within five business days, for an additional $100 fee.

Currently, passport processing typically takes about six weeks.

The price of a busking permit has dropped. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Busking

Strangely, performance artists in Melbourne will make small savings with the cost of a 12-month busking permit decreasing from $50 to $40.

The small but welcome concession encompasses a broad creative demographic, from singers to pavement artists to jugglers.